United’s practices were deemed illegal in three states. But that hasn’t stopped the company from policing mental health care with arbitrary thresholds and cost-driven targets.
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In today’s newsletter: UnitedHealth’s playbook for limiting mental health coverage; inaccuracies in insurance directories; a free virtual event on post-Roe America; and more from our newsroom.
United used an algorithm system to identify patients who it determined were getting too much therapy and then limited coverage. It was deemed illegal in three states, but similar practices persist due to a patchwork of regulation.
Portion of the hundreds of mental health providers listed in insurance directories who were “unreachable, not in-network, or not accepting new patients” when staffers with the New York state attorney general’s office called over the course of 2022 and 2023. The office was investigating a pernicious insurance industry practice known as “ghost networks,” where health plans list providers who supposedly accept that insurance but who are not actually available to patients.
Join us on Thursday, Nov. 21, at 4 p.m. EST for a free virtual event in which reporters will take you inside ProPublica’s reproductive health coverage.
